Heart of an Inkling
by Danball Vampire Shogun
Summary: Young Turq has always been the one outcast that is terrible at Turf Wars, but when he ends up as the hero chosen to face the Octarians, one can only wonder if he'll come out alive.


Uh, hey there...my name's Turq, Ya know, short for Turquoise Paul Splatterson. Yeah, I dunno why my mom gave me such a girly name either...Anyway, I'm 14 years old and I'm a freshman at Inkopolis High. My school's nothing great, regular math, science and english classes.

Did I mention our school's pride and joy sport is Turf Wars? Well, I should also mention that I suck at it. Really badly.

Your probably wondering how a young Inkling of the perfect age can possibly suck at Turf Wars. I'm not sure honestly, I've tried time and time again but I always end holding my team back, whether at school or at the Booyah Base.

You might've figured it out already but at school, I'm not exactly treated well... Ya see, Turf Wars are like a rite of passage for us, it's in our blood, so naturally everyone is great at it.

Except me.

It's such a big part of our culture that me being terrible at it kinda makes me an outcast, not a true inkling. The other kids at school—students, jocks, and girls alike—all laugh at me for it, most people who watch the live plays of public Turf Wars I participate in get a good laugh at me missing my enemies by a mile and getting stuck in their ink over and over again.

There are only two people in this world who believe in me, my mother and my little sister. My mother knows how terrible I am, but she always says that she knows I can do it, I don't know how she's not embarrassed to have me for a son...

My little sister, Cyan, always gets mad at the others who make fun of me and she'd always get angry and tell them, "Just you watch! Soon, my brother'll be the best at Turf Wars! The best!" Hah, like that'll ever happen.

If it wasn't obvious, to make up for my horrible physical ability, I'm pretty smart. I've never gotten anything below an A in class and I study hard, _really_ hard. If I can't make my sister and mother proud through Turf Wars, I can at least make them proud and be some kind of scientist, I've always wondered how our world and inhabitants came to be.

Well, enough of my life story, time for school. Unfortunately...but I barely heard the news talking about the Great Zapfish being missing...

* * *

Waiting for the school bus is always my planning time. Planning for what? For how I keep my head low and remain unnoticeable, I was wearing my green hoodie today, I could probably get by if I get the hood over my head...

Oh...the bus is here...great.

I get up from the bus stop and pull my hood over my head, keeping my bespectacled eyes to the bus floor as I headed for the back of the bus.

A sound plan. Until one of the jock jerks stuck his foot out and tripped me, causing me to fall and for my hood to fly and my glasses to fall off my face.

"Hey look, it's the Noob!" Yup, that's what they called me. It's been my nickname ever since archaeologists discovered an ancient dictionary with the word inside of it, oddly enough the book's cover had an odd, green X according to those who discovered it..

As they all laughed, I grabbed my glasses from the floor and trudged to my seat as we drove to the school.

* * *

I'll be honest, I don't have any friends for obvious reasons...This means during History, I'm the only one taking notes while everyone else is chatting it up with their friends while the teacher lectures.

That's not the weird part, that's the fact that there's a girl staring in my general direction. Never had that happen before...when I turn to face her she switches gazes to her notebook and starts jotting things down. Well, she was probably staring at someone else anyway...

The bell rings and everyone makes a break for the cafeteria, lunchtime has arrived and it's time for my midday solitude session.

I just _love_ my life.

Finding my usual spot under the tree outside of the cafeteria, I plop down and pull out my lunch. It's grilled shrimp, I love mom.

I grab my chopsticks and prepare to tear into it but stop as I feel a presence beside mine and look over to see the girl from before. I now notice that her natural tentacle color is green, mine being my namesake, her eyes are shining yellow compared to my dark blue.

"Hi there! Is it okay if I sit here?" A girl, an actual female is asking to sit next to me but my selfless side is saying to warn her.

"I dunno, you really shouldn't sit next to a loser like me. It might ruin your reputation." She shakes her head at me.

"Don't worry. It'll be fine." I'm shocked, utterly shocked. She's willingly sitting next to me? Or is this some kind of joke? Suddenly, an arm attached to a long-sleeved black shirt hovers before me.

"My name's Corra Reef. And you are?" So she isn't aware of me? Maybe this is my golden opportunity!

I grab her hand and reply, "Turquoise Splatterson, but just call me Turq." She grins at me, her fangs showing in full pearly white glory. She then turns her attention to my hand, where I hold my chopsticks and her face lights up even more.

"You use chopsticks too?" Too? Wait... "I use them!" She pulled out a pair of chopsticks and expertly twirled them around in her hand.

Yup. We are so definitely friends now.

* * *

Now for my least favorite time of day, S.E., Splat Education...wonderful.

Today's activity is hitting a far off target with any charger of our choice, didn't make any difference to me, I'll miss anyway.

"Okay kids. Simple today, just hit the dummy and you pass." Ward, the stupid jerk who tripped me this morning and easily antagonizes me the most, snickered.

"Might as well give the Noob a fail right away sir." Once again, I was the laughing stock of the entire room and I was really starting to get sick of it.

"Fine! I'll show you! I'll hit that freaking target and maybe then you'll shut it!" Ward only smirked at my outbursts and gestured to the wall of chargers. In my angry haste, I hadn't noticed that I grabbed a regular Splat Charger...

The only one on there without a scope...

No surprise, I missed by a freaking mile and once again I was being laughed at...yay.

* * *

It was an angry walk home that day, true I had made a friend in Corra but the end of the day had just pissed me off.

As I passed through Booyah Base on my way home and with it being Friday, everyone was their doing Turf Wars like there was no tomorrow. I simply sat down on a railing and tried calming down but that led to nothing as I sat there for a while.

I was about to get up and leave until I heard something that sounded like metal being moved and turned around. I barely saw the old man who was peeking from below before he flew back underneath. What the heck?

Checking around to make sure no one was looking, I quickly shifted to squid form and fell between the grates of the manhole.

When I popped up on the other side, I couldn't believe my eyes. I was in a valley of some kind, with large mountains surrounding me and lush grass as far as I could see lining said mountains. What really caught my attention? The giant stone octopus in the center.

During my taking in of the scenery, I never noticed the old man from before walk up to me. "Hey there, kid. What brings you here?"

"H-Huh-" I stutter out before the old man continues.

"Yeah, you seem to look the part. Young, energetic, yes, you'd really help us here." The old man was analyzing me? What for?

"Help you with what?" I barely squeak out before the old man just nods vigorously at me.

"Getting back the Great Zapfish from the Octarians!" It was here that I knew that I probably visibly paled.

"DO WHAT?!"

* * *

 **Yup, I'm trying my hand at Splatoon fanfiction. This game has so much story potential for us authors to twist the world of Splatoon in our own ways that this idea was born! I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! I have much more planned.**


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